We have seen and heard numerous school bus accident cases where safety was the principle reason behind it. With adrenaline rushed reckless drivers around the corner, loved ones tend to feel worried.
Today’s article though is exceptionally about school bus safety measures. Paramounting safety over all; Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts are targeted for their school bus fitness inspection procedure under RTA (Road Transport Authority) instructions.
Now let’s look into how RTA will take action towards commercial school buses that have neglected safety for long.
There was a time when school buses were built with quality and maintenance was decided depending on the size of an educational organization. You admit your kid in big corporate school and there you go; a big beautiful bus with wide seats and windows being driven and transported by trained drivers. Now try getting admitted in a small scaled institution, the bus would look pathetic; sounding like stones inside a tin with torn seats and broken windows.
Visakhapatnam being the pedagogy of education for state and interstate students, there are schools and institutions dotting every part of the city. More schools mean more buses. But how good are their conditions? A sub-standard bus will increase the intensity of crash by 15%-20%. To avoid this, RTA of Vizag has come up with some strict rules for proper bus quality regulations.
There are 33 features an educational organization bus must possess, as per rule 185 (G) of AP Motor Vehicle Act.
S Venkateswara Rao, RTA deputy transport commissioner reportedly talked about this assignment, which they are looking forward to start from 27 April. “Around 50 buses were considered unfit under given conditions out of approximately 2000 educational institute coaches within Visakhapatnam district”, he added. He further stated on their stringent practices towards unfit coaches, if any are found during the current inspection session. Meetings are supposedly going to start between officials and managements of educational organizations to discuss in detail about the updated rules and regulations.
Till date the inspections were randomly regulated, but this will not be the case further on; for officials are planning to organize an exclusive drive before June, the next academic year, during the third and fourth week of May.
With around 3000 buses in three districts alone, there is a significant rise in school buses from 17,614 to 23,000 since March 2013. The RTA officials have hence stated considering 2 factors – one is safety of school children, the other will be to check and control the increasing coach numbers.
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